Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We have a home

I know you are all thinking...you moved in a month ago but, I put pictures on the wall and the furniture is all in the apartment now. It feels good to be settled in our apartment. I will post pictures soon. It is still a little bare but I am sure it will fill up in the next months. I am very happy to say that because of Somerville's fantastic curbsiding we probably only spent about $400 furnishing our apartment including all the little things lie sheets, mattress pad, pots and pans, throw pillows,... This wonderful provision is brought to us in part by the Modaff family, IKEA and in whole by God. Praise the Lord for His planning and dedication to even the little things like sage green sheets. :) I will put pics in later but for now I should probably be checking for patients.

Well, no one is here so for those of you who don't know; curbsiding is the delightful proceedure of placing household items and furniture you don't want on the curb in the evening and anyone can take it. If it is still there in the morning the trash man takes it away. This is how we obtained most of our furniture and some of our dishes. Great fun!! It is a bargain hunters dream. We live in a pretty nice neighborhood so we are very lucky because people here throw away things in great condition. ;)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Change of scene!

Not for us but the Modaffs. Most of you will know Jessica (Dean) Modaff and her husband Matt. We spent our Sunday helping them move and gained a new appreciation for professional piano movers as we hauled (gently) the piano from the moving van, in the dark and rainy night of September 21, 2008, into their new home in Beverly, MA. We are sad to see them move farther away but this new home is much closer to school and work and we rejoice in the diminished commute.
We have been attending the church Jess and Matt serve at so we plan on seeing them at least on Sundays. It is called River's Edge Church and it is located in Malden, MA. This is about 10 minutes from our home. The church is new and small but there is tons of heart. We really like the people and the pastor has a way of taking something you have heard many time as making you hear it differently. We are very blessed by these people and hope to plug into some opportunities to serve soon.
For those of you requesting a calender of events for the Sand B&B (Bed and Breakfast) we are open for service beginning October and so far the schedule is:
Jordan gone to San Antonio Oct 30 - Nov 5
Jordan gone to New Orleans Nov7 - Nov 13
Julie Graham Nov7-13
Barbara & Jordan on the West Coast Dec 23 - Dec30 (not booked may be more or less or different days)
Jordan to Carmel, Ca Jan 31 - Feb 4 (I think)
Graham Patriarch and Matriarch :) March 28 - April 4 YEAH!! Birthdays!!
This is all I have for now. If you want to make a reservation you are welcome to enter them at this time and I will check. We really do make breakfast!!

I had my second interview at the Shapirio Clinic this morning at Brigham and Women's Hospital. It went really well so thank you for praying. I will let you know when I know something.

Much love and many blessings. Please let me know how I can be in prayer for you!

Barbara

Monday, September 15, 2008

The first post

Because everyone has a blog!!! I decided it was time to set one up. Jordan and I have been living in Boston for one whole month now and we love it. I know, I know, wait for winter... We are currently living in Somerville which is close to Cambridge and is a great area. It is also where the first American flag was ever flow (a recent piece of knowledge I have obtained). Currently, I am working with a temp agency and my assignment is at Brigham and Women's Hospital in their Pain Management Department. I have a couple of interviews coming up so pray I get something more permanent, with benefits would be nice. Jordan is working at Dana Farber which is a huge cancer research institute. He is currently absorbed in a project concerning new bone cancer treatments. We spend most of our week in the Longwood Medical Area and our weekends everywhere else. I am so thankful to have my husband back! Say No to med school!! Our trip over here was amazing. Here is the itinerary is you are interested you can look up some of the places, some of them you will know.
July 24 - Barbara's last day of work and Jordan takes his medical boards
July 25 - pack and leave Seattle, Wa
July26-27 - Yakima, Wa
July 27-28 - Boise, ID - visiting a bunch of Idaho WAMMI students
July 28 - Denver and we left the next morning very early for Cancun.
This was a surprise trip for our wedding anniversary that Jordan's best friend, Mark, and his wife gave us. It was amazing and relaxing after being go, go, go for what felt like months.
August 5 - return to Denver from Cancun, hang out in Denver until the 7th
August 7 - We are on the road again and head to Lake McConaughy where we camped in Nebraska by way of Chimney Rock.
August 8 - Long road day we cross Nebraska and Iowa to Bellevue (that's right you WA peeps), Iowa. We camped at the Park right above the Mississippi River.
August 9 - We stayed in Iowa and visited the Maquoketa Caves, stayed up really late with the couple camping next door to us and ate breakfast the next day at a local dinner for $10 (both of us) and it was amazing.
August 10th - cross the Mississippi River and head to Indiana Dunes State Park on Lake Michigan. Enjoy the local tavern because the pool is 25 cents and the Olympics are on. We return to our campsite after watching an amazing sunset over the lake with Chicago in the background.
August 11th - We slowly wander to Oregon, OH. Stopping to take in the sights and do some wines tasting. If you like sweet wine Michigan is the place for you. (yes westcoast folks we were trying to find all the places with names identical to the west jk) Arriving in Oregon, we got a hotel order pizza and watch the Olympics. YEAH, for showers and laundry!
August 12th - Get up early and head to Sandusky Bay and out to Marblehead point to explore an island which was a prison for confederate soldiers during the civil war, checked out the light house and put our feet in Lake Erie (much colder than Lake Michigan). We camped at Lake Erie State Park that night and had the most amazing meal at a restaurant in Fredonia, NY.
State Park and camped by the August 13th - We are going to Niagara Falls. The Falls are amazing and we did everything there. You should go and if you do get the package for the boat, wind caves, IMAX movie, observation tower, and aquarium. After wearing ourselves out there we drove to LetchworthGenesee River.
August 14th - We spent the day here at the "Grand Canyon of the East." While inspiring I have to say the West Grand Canyon is much more dramatic in coloring and size but this gorge was beautiful in its own unique way. Plus the story behing the park is funny. A really rich guy owned the place back in the day and the train and energy people were trying to dam the river and take over part of the land so Letchworth gave the land to the state park government and the whole railroad and energy plot went right out the window. Brilliant!!!
August 15th - We leave for Boston. We drove in during an amazing thunder and lightening storm. Here was crashed with wonderful friends who let us sleep in their office until we could get our apartment. Many Thanks to Matt and Jess Modaff, without whom we would have been mildly homeless in Boston for a couple of weeks.
I have now written a book and I hope you all enjoy it. Please pray that we would find a great church to plug into here where we can serve and be encouraged in our faith.

Much love to you all and many blessings,
Barbara